Chapter 16
Beth
I was a mess. A worried, guilt-ridden mess. I had no one to talk to. If I shared with anyone the secret I’d been holding onto for a month, the rumor mill would start spinning. It wouldn’t be long before Adam found out. Then again, it wasn’t like I could keep this particular secret for much longer. I had another month tops, before it became obvious.
Taking a deep breath, I turned off the tap and stepped out of the shower. I didn’t feel any better than I had last night. After our little tiff in the car, I hadn’t seen Adam since. He’d hurt my feelings but I understood why he’d snapped. After experiencing the tension between him and his family, I suppose I couldn’t stay mad at him for being a jerk. He was stressed.
Besides, I had no right to hold a grudge when I was keeping something huge from him. I had every intention of being the bigger person and mending things between us. We’d come so far―minus the small part of me being distant because I was hiding something. I refused to allow things to get worse. So, I was going to apologize for yesterday, whether I was in the wrong or not, and then I’d come clean. Hopefully, he wouldn’t blow a fuse.
“Adam, I’m pregnant.”
“No, I can’t just throw it out like that.”
Staring at myself in the mirror, I tried again.
“Adam, I’m sorry about last night. I had no right to pry in your family’s business. There’s something I need to tell you. Please don’t be angry. I’m pregnant.”
“No, that’s not good enough.”
“Adam… Argh!”
I was losing my shit and I hadn’t even seen him yet. Plus, I felt foolish rehearsing in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, I squared my shoulders. “You, Beth,” I pointed at my reflection, “are no coward.”
I was going to put everything out there. My feelings for Adam, my desire to try at a real marriage, our unborn child. Everything . The worst that could happen was him laughing in my face and rejecting me...I’d recover from that humiliation, eventually.
******
There was no sign of Adam so I figured he’d left early for some meeting. Maybe it was a good thing. I’d have more time to get myself together and figure out the best way to drop the bombshell on him. What if he assumed I deliberately got pregnant to trap him? The horror that thought brought on made me stop in my tracks. Surely, Adam knew me better than that to think that. My phone vibrating, stopped me from totally freaking out.
“Hey, Mel!” My overly cheerful greeting made me cringe. She had no idea what was going on and I wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. She had school to focus on.
“Beth! Are you okay? You sound okay, that’s good...unless this is you being deathly calm. Please, tell me you didn’t kill him. Do you want me to come home?”
I let out a laugh at Mel’s rambling. “ What ? Has someone been overdoing it with the caffeine again?”
“Oh, my God. You don’t know.”
“Know what? What’s going on?”
“You know how I like to keep up with pop culture?”
I rolled my eyes and walked to the coffee machine. It was a good thing my doctor said it was okay to have a cup of coffee a day. I really needed it. “Yeah, I know about your love for trash tabloids.”
“Uh-huh. You know how the Thornes are pretty much celebrities?”
“Spit it out.”
She sighed. “If you don’t know what’s going on, I should leave it to Adam.”
“ Melissa ,” I growled, getting more worried by the second. “If you don’t tell me―”
“It’s better if I show you. I’m hanging up.”
Seconds after the call ended, a message came in. There was a link that my finger hovered over. Fighting off a weird feeling of foreboding, I took a look at what my sister was having hysterics over.
As I studied the screen, a wave of nausea washed over me and it wasn’t from morning sickness. I stared at the picture of Adam with some blonde perched on his lap with her hands all over him. The headline made me want to disappear from existence.
“Newlywed Billionaire Already Bored With Wife”.
A strangled moan passed my lips and I put the phone down. I’d never been so embarrassed in my life. I’d grown up watching the Thornes’ name being mentioned in several media outlets. They were basically American royalty. Adam had always been a tabloid favorite, always getting into something. I used to find his escapades amusing. Now that I was involved, I wanted to flee the country and go into hiding forever.
My phone rang again.
“Are you still okay?” Melissa asked as soon as I accepted the call.
I let out a breath, trying to ignore the feeling of my heart practically shattering to pieces. I had no one to blame for my hurt feelings. I knew better than to fall in love with a rich playboy yet, I did...and to get pregnant on top of it was downright insane.
“I’m fine. I knew Adam before our marriage...arrangement. I’m not surprised.”
“Beth, are you sure you don’t want me to come home? I can catch a flight and be there in―”
“No way. Not that I wouldn’t love to see you, but” I swallowed and forced out the lie, “this is no big deal. You’ll be here in a bit for Thanksgiving anyway.”
“Okay. You’ll call me if you need me, right?”
I had no idea where my laugh came from, maybe I’d started running on autopilot.
“How many times do I have to remind you that I’m the older one? You call me if you need me .”
She snorted. “Yes ma’am . I’ll check up on you anyway. Later.”
There were tears burning the back of my eyeballs, begging to be released. I didn’t know how to handle negative press. I was a Thorne by name only...and temporarily. The only solution I had was to never show my face in public again. Maybe the stupid tabloid was right. Adam was bored with me. Why else would he go out and seek other female attention?
I plopped down on the nearest chair and rode the waves of my emotional turmoil. There was no telling how long I sat there staring into space when I heard the distinct sound of the elevator arriving. As much as I wanted to run to my room and have a good cry, I stayed.
Seconds later, Adam rounded the corner. He carried his jacket in one hand, the top buttons of his shirt were undone, his hair stuck out in all directions and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like the walking dead and I wanted to finish him off right then.
He stopped when he saw me.
“Morning.”
I couldn’t believe he had the audacity to greet me with that annoyingly sexy drawl and a smile .
“You can’t be serious,” I hissed.
His smile dissolved.
“Somebody is in a bad mood. Look, about yesterday. I was in a sour mood. I should never have taken it out on you. I’m sorry.”
“That’s what you’re apologizing for? What about humiliating me in front of the world?”
“What?”
I strolled to him on wobbly legs and held up my phone with the incriminating picture and headline up to his face. What I really wanted to do was throw it at his head. “I guess one vagina will never be enough for you. Or maybe mine just isn’t good enough, you dick.”
Adam blinked twice and then his eyes widened. “Fuck!”
“Oh, I’m sure you did all night.” I had to fight down another wave of nausea.
“What? No! I didn’t...Beth, it isn’t what it looks like.”
It never was with his type. I blamed myself for thinking he’d actually changed. “I don’t know, it’s a clear enough picture. Since you’re going to make a fool out of me, I refuse to be one, for two whole years.”
“Beth, let me explain.”
“There’s going to be a change of terms. One year of this farce of a marriage with everything else you promised. That means, I only have to endure seven more months. Lucky me!” I stepped around him, valiantly fighting back my tears.
Oh my God. I’m going to be a single mother, was my first thought as I stormed off. There was no way I was going to tell him I was pregnant now .
“Beth, wait! Nothing happened, I swear.”
“Keep your lies, Adam. I don’t care what happened.”
I did care. I wasn’t just upset because he humiliated me. I was hurt because he’d been with another woman. He was supposed to be mine...for another year at least. I locked myself in my room where it was safe to bawl my eyes out and I didn’t plan on ever coming back out.